Negligence caused the death of Princess Diana and two others in a Paris car crash more than a decade ago, a British coroner's jury has ruled.

The jury, which rendered a 9-2 verdict on Monday, blames driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi for the Aug. 31, 1997 crash.

The jury gave a verdict of unlawful killing, which means they believe the reckless behaviour leading up to the crash constituted manslaughter.

Diana, her boyfriend Dodi al Fayed, and Paul died after their Mercedes slammed into a pillar in the Alma underpass while being pursued by photographers in cars and on motorcycles.

Fayed and Paul died at the scene, Diana a few hours later. Fayed and Diana weren't wearing seatbelts.

French police announced that Paul -- head of security at the Ritz Hotel, where the couple had been staying -- had a blood-alcohol level that was three times over the country's legal limit.

The car had been travelling an estimated 100 kilometres per hour when it struck the pillar, which was twice the speed limit.

Tom Kennedy, CTV's London bureau chief, told Newsnet that the jury reached the toughest verdict available.

The six women and five men began deliberations on April 2. They had heard testimony from more than 240 witnesses and travelled to Paris from London to see the crash scene.

Kennedy noted the ruling comes after two major police investigations, both of which concluded the event was an accident.

"The British coroner's inquiry could never take place until all other procedures were completed by both the British and French police, which is why it has taken us so long to get to this," he said.

End of the conspiracy?

Mohammed al Fayed, Dodi's father, has claimed almost from the beginning that Diana and his son died as a result of a murder plot directed by Prince Philip and carried out by British secret agents. Mohammed al Fayed said the British establishment wanted to stop the couple from marrying, unable to accept the notion of the mother of a future king marrying his son, who was a Muslim.

In instructing the jury, coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker said there was no evidence to support that claim. The jury was not allowed to make such a finding.

Baker also expressed the hope that the verdict would put an end to the conspiracy theories.

Kennedy said this verdict is the final legal chapter of this tragic saga. However, it isn't known why the two jurors dissented, he said.

Mohammed al Fayed has said he would accept the jury's verdict. But after the decision was issued, a spokesperson read his statement which suggested he still believed his theory about her death.

"I'm not the only person who believed she was murdered. Diana herself feared she would be killed. So I am disappointed," the statement said.

Despite the ruling, further charges appear unlikely.

French authorities charged nine photographers with manslaughter, but those charges were thrown out in 2002.

In 2006, three photographers were convicted of invasion of privacy for taking pictures of the couple.

The paparazzi came under harsh criticism in the immediate aftermath of the crash. Some British papers even vowed to stop using such photos, but that vow was eventually dropped.

With files from The Associated Press